Eric Pickles sees the concept of regions as a defining ideological divide between the coalition and the previous government. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen / Rex Features

In the brave new world of the communities and local government secretary, Eric Pickles, "local" is the new mantra. The adjective seems to transcend all policy. Missives, castigating anything reeking of "regionalism" – with the exception of Greater London – fly out daily from his department's headquarters.

The bullish minister sees the concept of regions as a defining ideological divide between the coalition and the previous government. Regional housing targets, strategic planning, and regional development agencies are all heading for the bin.

The engaging Pickles, former leader of Bradford city council before migrating south to Essex, might be an easy target for the opposition: single-minded, seemingly stubborn, he does not mince words. When he rounds on the last government's target-obsessed culture – endless inspections, league tables, tick-boxes and all, supported by armies of local bureaucrats serving a Whitehall performance regime – he touches a sympathetic nerve across local government.

As an example, his office quotes Leicestershire, where councils found they have 90 frontline staff solely devoted to processing more than 3,000 data items demanded by Whitehall. Cost: £3.7m a year. This bureaucratic madness is repeated across the country.

But single-minded cabinet ministers sometimes have a habit of missing the bigger picture. Almost two months into a new government, we are entitled to ask if this obsession with localism is in danger of doing some regions a grave disservice.

Pickles underlined a message for sweeping economies in local government today when he opened the Local Government Association annual conference by calling on English councils to share administrative functions as well as chief executives and senior officials. He is surely right to criticise seemingly unaccountable quangos, such as eight regional development agencies (RDAs), with a combined budget of more than £1bn to which strategic planning powers had been vested. But that does not mean the work of all RDAs should be consigned to history. Some achieved excellent results by creating new jobs, turning around derelict land, and working alongside councils to regenerate cities and industrial areas.

Indeed, only a few weeks ago, the business secretary, Vince Cable, whose department oversees RDAs, suggested that the future of agencies in the north, was assured, albeit in slimmed-down form. Ditto David Cameron and, indeed, the coalition agreement soon after the new government took power.

But something changed in the budget. Ideology triumphed. All RDAs, decreed the chancellor, had to go. In their place will come informal "local enterprise partnerships" and a £1bn "regional growth fund" to which the new partnerships can make bids.

Everything is now local. Last week, the local government and housing minister, Grant Shapps, reinforced Pickles's approach by stating that town halls had to show more initiative. No more diktats from the centre, he stressed. "Now it's up to councils."

Pickles has a golden opportunity to deliver on this front, moving from rhetoric to reality – in the form of a blueprint on his desk for a new, combined authority embracing the 10 councils in Greater Manchester (Tory, Labour and Lib Dem). They want the government to give legislative weight to this emerging strategic partnership, delivering new powers over transport and the local economy similar to those enjoyed by the Greater London authority.

Equity demands a positive response. London, so far, has been singled out as a special case by the coalition. The capital is keeping its development agency – which has so far experienced none of the cutbacks suffered by the other RDAs, or had housing targets and its regional planning strategy removed. Cameron and his ministers say they want a more "balanced" English economy, less dependent on London and the south-east. Fine rhetoric. But will they deliver?

Peter Hetherington writes on communities and regeneration.

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